Why Tebow and not gay dating ad? CBS on Super Bowl hotseat

Why Tebow and not gay dating ad? CBS on Super Bowl hotseat

Good overview on the trouble CBS finds itself in after agreeing to run an anti-abortion ad but refusing to air an ad from a gay Web site during the Super Bowl:

By agreeing to show an “uplifting” antiabortion ad and rejecting a Super Bowl-style ad (read: funny) for a gay dating site, CBS is already feeling the effects of its decision to air “advocacy” ads for the first time on Super Sunday.

Working in a tough advertising climate, CBS surprised many Americans by explaining a new policy on advocacy ads after news emerged that it had agreed to show an antiabortion ad featuring Florida QB Tim Tebow and his mom, Pam.

That decision caused an uproar over the ad itself, the sponsor (the conservative organization Focus on the Family), and the prospect of politics seeping into a three-hour block where most Americans are trying to escape from the daily grind.

There are some extenuating circumstances — namely that the Web site may not really have the $2.6 million it costs to run the ad and therefore was really just engaging in a (rather successful) PR stunt.

That said, I’ve yet to read a good explanation for why the anti-abortion ad is OK while the gay ad is improper. Both will be highly offensive to some viewers and both advocate a position on a pretty volatile issue for many people. CBS appears to have opened up quite a can of worms by revising their standards — and I’m unsure how they’re going to enforce their policy without being arbitrary or capricious.

And, by the way, I’m referring to the “Big Game” as the Super Bowl. Come and sue me, NFL.

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Matt J. Duffy, PhD, is an academic media scholar. His works have been accepted for publication in the Journal of Middle East Media, the Journal of Mass Media Ethics and the Newspaper Research Journal. An assistant professor of communication, Duffy teaches UAE and international media law at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. He is an active member of AUSACE, the Arab-US Association for Communication Educators. Follow him on Twitter.

8 Comments

Matt, your point is well made: both will be highly offensive to some viewers and both advocate a position on a pretty volatile issue for many people.Still, I'm not sure that just because they're both likely to be controversial means they're equivalent. Without getting into the actual demographics of how many people wavering on the abortion issue watch the Super Bowl versus how many gay men looking for a partner watch the Super Bowl, it boils down to a commercial offering to help men find other men to have sex with versus a commercial suggesting that maybe you shouldn't terminate a potential human life.YMMV.

There are just so many things wrong with airing EITHER ad during the S00P3R B0AL (hah! let them sue me for that!). First of all, the S00P3R B0AL is supposed to be one big party, not a soapbox for the airing of political opinion or religious belief. To me it's the equivalent of having billboard advertising on the White House lawn…or inviting the current gubernatorial candidates to speak at one's wedding reception — it's just not the time or place for that. It almost treads the line between inappropriate and downright offensive to me. From a marketing POV the hoopla leading up to this S00P3R B0AL may be a good thing, but the way it plays out on the day of the game, once the Tebow ad is aired, could be undesirable. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth to know that, when his mother *claims* she was faced with having an abortion, she was happily married and living in a country — the Philippines — where abortion is illegal, and the reason she claims doctors encouraged her to have one was b/c she had been given drugs to awaken her from a coma that could have caused her baby to be stillborn. Most people who get abortions do so because being pregnant/having a baby is going to throw their entire life into turmoil and their future happiness in jeopardy…like one friend of mine who is the daughter of a conservative Christian pastor. Yeah. She's had three abortions, all so her dad would never have to bear the shame of knowing she was having premarital sex…and she wouldn't have to bear his rejection/criticism…or the baby of a guy she was seeing that she wasn't ready to marry yet.It also offends me that, in 2004, CBS turned used its "no advocacy" rule to reject an add from the liberal United Church of Christ promoting its "Open and Affirming" stance on having gay members join their congregations.Accepting the Tebow ad AND the ManCrunch ad after having rejected the UCC's very mild "God Is Still Speaking" ad is more than a little hypocritical…PS to my fella ~ Now sugardumplin', you know as well as I do that not ALL gay men are just looking for a casual sex partner…Sources:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dYclgiMf7ghttp://www.abpnews.com/content/view/4782/53/

Since Tebow is so religious, I hate to question the fact he could have any hot college chick he wants to begin with, yet stays celibate. 1% chance of Ted Haggard type? Oh well, Ted now has those tendencies under control anyway.

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About the Author

Dr. Matt J. Duffy serves as an assistant professor in the School of Communication and Media at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, USA. He enjoys teaching the art of good journalism, a noble profession and powerful tool for social change. Duffy worked as a journalist for several news outlets including the Boston Herald and the Marietta Daily Journal. He now teaches journalism and media law.
Duffy's research focuses on international approaches to media law. Wolters Kluwer will publish the second edition of his"Media Laws in the United Arab Emirates" in 2017. He has published more than a dozen academic articles and writes occasionally for niche publications. Duffy enjoyed a visit to Pakistan in May 2016 as part of the Fulbright Scholar program from the US State Department. Since 2012, Duffy has served on the board of the Arab-United States Association for Communication Educators, an organization that aims to improve journalism in the Middle East. He also owns Oxford Editing that he started in 2007.